Garment.



y No. 697,576. Patented Apr. I5, |902.

J. J. WALTER & J. S. BRCKEBT.

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

JOSEPH J. WALTER AND JOHN S. BROOKERT, OF WAPAKONETA, OHIO; SAID BROOKERT ASSIGNOR TO SAID WALTER.

GARMENT.

SPEGIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 697,576, dated April 15, 1902. Application iiled January l2, 190] Serial No. 42,986. mo model.)

To tu whom, t may concern:

Be it known that we, J osEPH J. WALTER and JOHN S. BROOKERT, citizens of the United States, residing at Wapakoneta, in the county of Auglaize and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Garment, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in knitted undergarments, and particularly to that class of knitted undergarments known as union undergarments; and the object is to so form such a garment that-it may be very conveniently and readily placed upon or removed from the body of the wearer and also so as to permit ready access to the breast in nursing without inconvenience or undue exposure.

A further object is to so form a garment of the class specied that the elasticity of the same is increased at the neck-opening` and in which the general appearance and lit of the whole garment are improved.

With the above objects in View the invention consists in the novel features of construction hereinafter fully described, particularly pointed out in the claim, and clearly illustrated by the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure lis a front view of the garment upon the body of the wearer; Fig. 2, a similar view showing the garment open for removal, and Fig. 3 a similar view showing one side of the upper portion of the garment open for nursing.

Referring now more particularly to the vaccompanying drawings, A indicates the body or shirt portion of the garment, which is formed of elastic knit fabric. The bust portion of the shirt is cut or slit from the front of the neck-opening B to the center of each of the armpit-openings, the line of each cut being that of a substantially quarter-circle and indicated by the letter a. Thus a substantially inverted-V-shaped front portion C is formed, the lines of the V being quarter-circles. lFlaps D are also formed by these cuts, which flaps overlap the edges of portions C, to which they are secured by means of buttons E and buttonholes F. The upper edges of these flaps form the front portion of the neck-opening, and through the upper edge of the rear portion of the neck and the upper edges of these iaps a draw-string or ribbon Gis passed, Y

which serves to draw and hold the parts together at the neck and also to hold the meeting edges of the Haps together at the upper end of portion C.

When the ends of the draw-string are untied and the flaps unbuttoned, front portion C drops downwardly, while the flaps may be turned back, as illustrated in Fig. 3, so that the entire upper front portion of the garment is open, whereby it may be very easily and conveniently placed upon or removed from the body of the wearer.

In nursing either of the aps may be unbuttoned and turned back, so as to permit ac- Y cess to one side of the bust without exposing the other side Y thereof. VThus the garment will be found exceedingly convenient and desirable for mothers nursing infants.

The bias facing b along the quartencircle cuts is of the same knitted material of which the garment is made, which is Very elastic,

so that the elasticity of the garment at that point is not decreased, but is increased over that possessed by garments using other kinds of facings.

From the foregoing descriptionlit will be seen that we have produced a very convenient and advantageous knitted-undergarment possessing considerable merit over garments of this class heretofore patented.

Having thus fully described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

A shirt, the upper front part C, thereof be# ing essentially in the form of an inverted V, the edges being curved and extending from the armpit on each side to the center of the neck, and the liaps D, D, integral with the shoulder and back portions of the shirt, the edges of said aps being curved to correspond with the curved edges of the front and which they overlap, said front and flaps being provided with buttons and buttonholes at the bottom and intermediate points and a drawstring extending around the upper edge of the back portion and along the upper edges of the naps, the ends of said string projecting beyond the ends of the iiaps, substantially as shown and described.

JOSEPH J. WALTER. JOHN S. BROCKERT. Witnesses:

VERNON B. ARNOLD, CHAs. F. HERBST, J r.

IOC 

